Tomb Raider: Curse Of The Sword
by Josh14Raider
Summary: British archaeologist-adventurer Lara Croft is visiting her good old friend Jane in New York City. However things do not go to plan, as an incident occurs at the museum, where a special artefact is stolen. During which Lara becomes cursed!
1. Introduction

**Tomb Raider: Curse Of The Sword**

Adapted By Josh14Raider

Disclaimer: This is based on the storyline of the Game Boy colour game with the same title. I do not own any of the characters, they belong to their respectable owners. This is just for entertainment reading.

**- Introduction**

Using dark magic as they say has serious consequences if caught, but can be very rewarding to the ones who get away with it. It is the type of magic that is used for personal gains, and can be misused for many causes, such as destruction or indefinite misfortune on others. Some call it black magic, while others call it chaos magic and all relate it to the themes of evil and ritual settings. Many years ago, Madame Paveaux had raised herself to immense power, thanks to her many practices of this type of magic, for her own personal gains. Being a magician, she became feared across the underworld of New Orleans in America by various outlandish methods. One example of these methods, were sacrificing humans and many other malicious techniques owing for her experimentation.

It wasn't until Madame Paveaux had gone too far with her devilish ways. The people of New Orleans had decided to stand against her, and had riot against her practises of a dark magician. Some might say that the only way to defeat a magician is to pit them against another one, and see who comes out victorious. The people used this method and enlisted the aid from a powerful benevolent magician, so they could stand a chance of fighting and succeeding. The aftermath of the rebellion was that the people of New Orleans were able to break into her underworld mansion, and burnt it down to the ground. Although many of the rebels against Madame Paveaux were killed thanks to the evil magician and her minions, she was struck with one final blow from the benevolent magician and had fallen.

The people of New Orleans rejoiced and celebrated that the death of Madame Paveaux had brought safety and peace back to the atmosphere of New Orleans. They threw her body into a deep cliff and as her body fell, it had landed upon the sharp jagged precipices. Her body became torn and shattered. They believed that her dark presence had truly disappeared from existence. But they were unaware that one of Madame Paveaux's apprentices had survived the incident, and had followed where they had taken the deceased magician's body.

Once the people had left the cliff and Madame Paveaux's body to rot, the apprentice still very faithful to his Mistress had a plan of reviving her body and soul. He set himself the task of rescuing what was left of her at the bottom of the cliff, and taking her remains to a secret location. This was where he would be able to perform an ancient rite, to unleash the soul left from the body remains and seal it into a sacred container. The apprentice successfully extracted the soul of his mistress in the lair. The soul looked like a long multi-coloured snake with a human skull for a head, as it began circulating around the chanting minion.

"Soon Master..." the apprentice had said, as he reached out for his mistress' soul within the lair.

"Soon you will be free..." as he completed the ritual and finally had sealed her soul within a sword, including a written carving upon the stone it was on, 'PAVEAUX 1796-1844' it read.

"Free once again..." the apprentice promised, as he began his search for a suitable body, and the correct incantations that would bring his treacherous mistress back to life. Only by using the darkest of objects, and the most secret of sayings would the apprentice be able to bring his plan to fruition.


	2. Museum - Present Day

**- Museum (Present Day)**

Lara Croft was seated in a first class flight to New York. There she will meet her old friend Jane Riverton, an old colleague of Lara from the past. It had been a few weeks since Lara took her adventure pursuing the Nightmare Stone for Professor Igor Bowmane, and destroying it. Since that adventure, Lara received a phone call from Jane about some new artefacts she had discovered on one of her many journeys. Jane wanted to show Lara the newly set up New York Museum of Antiquities, and for her to examine the artefacts Jane had collected, and showcase in the museum. Straight away after the phone call, Lara booked the first flight to New York, as well as synchronising and setting up her watch for the New York clock time setting.

She fell asleep on the flight, since it was just pass midnight and they weren't landing until 7:30AM. The sound of the captain in the aeroplane awoke Lara, as they were preparing to make their descent to John F. Kennedy International Airport. She buckled her seatbelt and thought about spending a few days with her good old friend, hopefully without any mishaps or danger.

"Lara!" Jane waved from the arrivals terminal, Lara rushed over to greet and hug her old friend. "Good to see you Jane, you look very well since I last saw you!" They departed from the airport into a taxi cab, which the driver started to ask the two ladies what their destination was.

"You must be famished after that long flight. Did the cabin crew provide you any sort of breakfast at all?' Jane asked Lara.

"Actually I slept through the whole flight, so you're right I am quite hungry!" answered Lara.

"Okay, I know a good place where we can have some breakfast" replied Jane. "Driver, we're off to the E.A.T restaurant please!"

"Right you are, E.A.T restaurant, here we come!" The taxi driver confirmed. 

New York was quite congested at the time of 8:30AM. The road was filled with rush hour traffic, with different people wanting to travel to their destinations. Lara and Jane arrived at the E.A.T restaurant around half an hour later. It had been quite a distance from the airport, and was also no thanks to the many traffic jams too. Both entered the restaurant and sat down at the table nearest to the window, so they can enjoy the wonderful view of the New York skyscrapers as the sun rises up further in the sky.

When it came to ordering, Jane ordered the Croissant with butter & jam, while Lara had ordered a Tomato & Mozzarella Omelette. They both had also ordered an espresso coffee too.

"So out of all you've collected over the past months, which of all the artefacts is the most fascinating?" Lara had asked Jane.

"Well... in my opinion, the one ancient object that stands out is a sword" answered Jane.

"A sword?" Lara replied.

"Yes, but not just any sword, this particular one feels as if it has had some history behind it... its like as if there is some aura around it" Jane told Lara.

"Okay" Lara said, in a bit of confusion.

"Don't worry Lara, you'll see what I mean once we'll get to the museum" said Jane.

Lara nodded and both finished off their breakfasts. They left the restaurant, and whistled for another cab, this time to take them to the New York Museum of Antiquities. 

They drove through the driveway into the grand entrance of the New York Museum of Antiquities. The taxi had pulled up, and parked in one of the free spaces in the car park. Jane paid the taxi fare and they both got out of the car, making their descant towards the double doorway of the museum. To Lara, it was very impressive structural architectural building, since it had accurate symmetrical columns/pillars supporting to the roof of the building itself. It reminded Lara of an Ancient Rome building, and furthermore it seemed like they had converted the Maison Carrée in Nîmes, which is situated in France, into an antiquities museum, here in New York as it had a noticeable resemblance.

Jane greeted the two policemen guards, one on each side of the doorway. They ensured to check everyone who passes through, making sure that no-one suspicious enters the building. Lara and Jane walked pass through the security, and into the entranceway. The massive hallway they stood in was surrounded with ambient light, from the different glass paned windows in the ceiling, where the sun shone through. Furthermore, the reflection from the thoroughly polished golden tile floor had made the hall far from being a dark place to be in.

The reception area was too filled with a lot of different ornaments. These ornaments varied to what they were, some were artefacts collected by many archaeologists over the years, with the information displayed about them. While the other ornaments were models of some objects that were either drawn from past paintings, or described by in ancient transcripts, recreated as a model.

Lara followed Jane past through the reception area. They headed straight into the Shipwrecks and Lost Treasures section of the building, as it was pointed out by an arched banner. It was a massive room, split up by two ends. One for recreations of the ships that have been previously explored as wrecks, with a description of the history and how they would have functioned e.g. they were either running on steam or man-powered by oars. On the other side of the room, was the treasures salvaged by different underwater explorers, and each were protected and displayed by glass cabinets with alarms attached. Jane pointed to one of the treasures near the middle of the room, "Over there Lara" Jane said, as both made their way towards the object. 

The object in question was a sword, as they approached it and Lara examined carefully through the glass pane both the hilt and blade of the sword. It was in excellent condition, as if it hadn't have been used very much. The silver glinting blade looked as it had just been thoroughly polished, and also the shagreen leather hilt, looking as if there has been no wear and tear throughout its lifetime.

"It's a wonderful piece Jane. Where did you acquire it?" Lara asked Jane.

"It was found in a shipwreck off the coast of Florida" Jane answered. "We believe it was used in rituals of dark magic..."

BOOM! The painful sound of both a blast and shattering glass above in the ceiling, had took away the sentence Jane was about to say. Both Lara and Jane swiftly turned their heads towards the direction of the explosion, and saw a quick dissention of ropes. With it men were rapidly climbing downwards, quicker than a blink of an eye.

"What the..." A surprised Jane shouted, as the intruders began heading towards Lara and Jane.

"Watch out Jane!" warned Lara, as one of the men got out a gun and was aiming the hilt of it, ready to hit something. With haste, Lara and Jane jumped out of the way, the duo falling right down onto the museum floor.

"Lara!" "He's stealing the sword!" Jane spotted that an intruder was actually aiming for the glass cabinet, as the sound of a WHAM echoed the room! With another sound of breaking glass, he broke into it successfully, grabbed the sword and made a run out towards the exit. Just as he broke the glass, an alarm sounded.

"Don't Worry Jane, I'll get them!" A determined Lara promised her friend, as she quickly got up from the glossy floor, and sprinted as fast as she can in the direction the intruders were heading. Just then she remembered something, as she felt her pistol holsters.

"OH NO!", "I haven't got my guns!" she cursed herself. She thought just how foolish it was to just go after armed enemies, without any weapons. It was then the effect of the alarm came into practice. The entrance was locked down with bars, and the police guards began to flood the building. But Lara knew that these intruders would have planned to make a different escape route, instead of just the entrance. They would have anticipated the police force coming in once the alarm had been alerted. She had to be quick in order to catch up to the thieves. They were probably already one step ahead of her, and maybe have made their way to an escape route. Lara remembered the last intruder she saw had made his way to the right once he had left the room, so she headed in the right direction of the building. 

Since Lara hadn't fully explored the building, her surroundings became unfamiliar quickly, as she was met with an elevator at the end of the hallway. She assumed the intruders had used the elevator to make their way into the top floor, in order to flee from the building. There was no response from the button, when Lara had pressed to gain access to the elevator to the top floor. "Blast, the elevators out of power!" Annoyed by the delay of getting to the top floor, Lara backtracked through the hallway looking for either a room where a generator may have been, so she can reactivate the elevator, or if there had been any stairs, leading to the upper floors. Lara had thought that maybe part of the alarm procedure was to deactivate power to the elevators.

'At last' Lara only jogged for a few meters through the hallway, until she found a symbol engraved on a door in the hallway of what seemed to be the 'Power Room', to where the generator to the whole building was placed. Upon opening the door to the room, Lara was met with scurrying rats running around in the room. Though they weren't the most harmful and dangerous of animals, Lara was wary if they had come near to her for a good bite. It took only a few steps, until Lara was standing in front of the power generator. It had been looked after very well, with the shining cogs reflecting the lighting within the room and parts covered by sheets of bended coloured steel. All weren't moving as this provided power to the function of the elevators.

Lara searched for a trip switch, in order to reset the generator motor, and to get it generating power for the elevator, in order to catch up with the intruders. A few seconds passed, and Lara saw the trip switch to restart the motor. With one simple push on the chunky plastic switch, the generator motor began to run through its general routine of checks (to ensure that every component was functioning as intended). Then, with an out of the blue resounding click, the rotary motor started moving the cogs in a clockwise direction, ensuring that the generator is doing its task of providing power to the elevators.

Without hesitation, Lara made her way back to the elevator area. But as she was opening the power room door, the security police had begun to block some areas of the museum. They started to barricade anyone wanting to get access to parts of the expedition. Lara had no time to get mixed up with the security, as she had promised Jane to catch up with the intruders, and return what they had stolen. As soon as one of the guards was turning the other way, not looking through at the hallway, Lara made an attempt at sprinting straight towards the elevators.

"YOU THERE!", "STOP WHERE YOU ARE!" A strong loud male voice shouted across the hallway, as Lara had been caught by the guard. Immediately, the guard thought that the person he had just ordered to halt was going to obey the demand. To his surprise however, this person just carried on running down through the hallway, ignoring his command. He saw that she had quickly made her destination to the elevators, and tried to call on them.

Not taking his chances, the guard started to make a breakaway run in the person's direction to seize her. Going as fast as his legs could take him with all the police equipment to carry as well. Repeatedly Lara pressed the 4th floor button, which would take her to the highest floor in the museum. She also spotted the guard, and certainly she didn't want to be forced to abandon her pursuit against the intruders. 

"Phew!" Exhaled Lara, as that was the only expression she could give out. Since the guard was ever so closing within Lara's range, she thought for a moment that he would catch up with her. But just as her heartbeat was ever more rapidly beating with the guard was closing in on her, the elevator doors had finally started to shut out the view of the hallway, and altogether both sides had now closed. The elevator than began its ascension upwards, heading for the fourth floor. Lara wondered how far the intruders had got, and questioned herself if she would be able to reach them in time to retrieve the stolen sword. Another thing that Lara also thought about was the security guards. What their progress was in securing the museum, because if they had already reached the top floor, then they would only slow her down. Furthermore, she knew that she was already at a disadvantage of having not explored the layout of the museum, so she would not be accustomed to the surroundings, as the security guards would.

"DING!" "Fourth floor" the elevator announced, and the elevator doors began to slowly open. This was until they reached their maximum widening gap. Looking straight ahead, Lara saw the main passageway splitting into two separate ways on each side, and straight in front was the fire escape exit. Lara ran to the fire exit door, reached out to the opening handle bar and pushed it down. 'Locked!'' How can it be?' Lara questioned, as the door wouldn't budge even one bit. She then spotted a keyhole beside the handle bar. 'Blast!', 'a key must be somewhere around here to open up this escape route, but where could it be?'

The separate sections that were split up into one on each side of the corridor had led into different expeditions. To the left of the corridor, was the Dinosaur expedition and finally to the right was the Roman expedition. Not knowing where the key may have been hidden in one of these expeditions, Lara decided to try and search for it in the dinosaur expedition. She had to be quick though, as no doubt the intruders were one step ahead of her.

Entering the Dinosaur expedition, Lara was initially met with a rounded circular room that included a semi globe like ceiling. Pure sunlight was shining into the room. Straight in the centre of the room was a huge skeletal model of a Tyrannosaurus Rex dinosaur. The skull nearly filled up the whole top of the room, and the size of each of its talons was about the size of her fist. It was an impressive sculpture, but Lara had no time to admire the quality and construction of the dinosaur body. She glanced right and left, looking for any clues that would point in the direction of the whereabouts of the fire door key.

The dinosaur expedition was split into three rooms. A map guide was placed in a small glass paned desk. It had showed that Lara was currently standing in the first main room, known as the Tyrannosaurus room. This was the main feature of the dinosaur expedition on the floor. Not only had it contained the model, but as the map detail showed, the other two rooms ahead of it weren't as extravagant as the one she was in. The map also partially detailed what was on this floor too. So as well as showcasing the dinosaur expedition, it also showed detail of the Roman expedition too.

'Of course, the office would have the fire escape key for emergencies, if a lockdown were to occur' Lara quickly thought. She began to dash towards the office, skipping past the many objects, gallery pictures and information terminals that were based on dinosaurs that were held in the two rooms. 'Blast!' Lara cursed. Another locked door barred the way forward, 'another key to search for!', but she was interrupted by a sudden presence.

Lara had felt that she was not alone on the fourth floor. Immediately she turned away from the door to spot what had just entered the room. An alarming bark sound came from the other side, as a Doberman pinscher dog had come into view. Its teeth clenched tightly, and two beady eyes staring at Lara. It only took a few seconds, where both were analysing each other, anticipating what moves they were going to do next, until the Doberman had reacted first.

Not wanting to cause any serious harm to the dog, Lara waited for the Doberman to catch up with her from the other side. It was sprinting at a steady pace, and only took a few seconds for it to reach where Lara was. But she was prepared for what the Doberman may do, which she had expected it to jump upon her body, pushing it onto the floor and then attack. In response Lara got ready for a forward roll in the right diagonal direction, to get away from it. Surprisingly the Doberman, as it approached Lara ever closer to her person, was about half the size of her coming around waist high. But this fact didn't disturb Lara's chain of concentration, as one fault in her move could mean a vicious attack from the dog.

The Doberman then leaped onto the table just in front of Lara with its mouth wide open, ready to give her a good bite. But unexpectedly, just before the dog was about to make another pounce towards her direction, Lara had only just managed to do a forward roll diagonally away from the Doberman.

THUD! Was the sound Lara heard after barely dodging the Doberman attack, she looked back to see what had happened to the dog. It had almost been knocked out, having missed Lara and with head first had hit the wall to the Fourth Floor Office. Lara was about to approach the dog to make sure it was properly unconscious. Unpredictably however the Doberman rose itself, shaking its head to shrug off the impact. Having to act quickly, Lara had to formulate a plan to pursue the dog, and make it somehow unconscious without causing permanent damage to the Doberman.

After a few speedy moments, Lara had decided what course of action she would take in order to engage the dog. Just before the Doberman had made a recovery from the bang on the head, she hastily moved out of the Dinosaur expedition rooms, as quick as her legs would take her. The plan was for Lara to hide behind the wall of the entrance to the dinosaur expedition. There she would wait for the Doberman to show itself. Once it had been in her view, she would make a surprise tackle and hold onto the dog, until it would slip into unconsciousness. Finally Lara would also check to make sure that she has caused no harm to its anatomy and just leave the dog to one side.

Waiting for the arrival of the dog, Lara also thought about the whereabouts of the missing fourth floor office key. This was in order to gain access to the fire door key, to which she required to get back on track with the thieves. It was during this time Lara glanced over to the other side of the corridor. In view was the Roman Expedition as the banner on top of the entrance way pointed out. There upon, the dog had appeared into sight. Additionally Lara prepared herself with all of her strength ready to tackle the Doberman. She counted to herself to when she would engage the dog. '3...2...1'. Lara made her move. 

Sprinting towards out of the side of the wall, the dog was caught off guard as Lara was too rapid for it to react. Straightaway Lara wrapped her arms around the Doberman and pushed the dog to the ground. Moments passed, Lara could feel that the dog was now motionless. This resulted in her in checking the dogs' heart pulse, so she can be reassured that no real harm has been done.

Lara placed two of her fingers on the middle of the thigh on the dog. She knew that the average dog heart rate was around 70-180 beats per minute. She counted the beats for the minute, and with the result Lara was glad that the dog seemed to be still healthy, just unconscious after counting 168 beats per minute. Lara moved the dog to a more comfortable position where it will be easily spotted. Then she moved onto exploring the Roman expedition on the fourth floor, to see if it had the office key she needed.

Stepping into the Roman Expedition, the room was filled with historical values such as stone sculpture figureheads of past leaders, famous Roman people, paintings and carvings of many battles. This was in addition to a mixture of well known painted buildings at the time. This included coliseums, aqueducts or baths and different models all layered out in both rooms of the expedition. It had all been a beautifully arranged. All the objects within the room had been carefully looked after, and the expedition itself with all its glory was too fascinating to ignore.

Lara began searching through where a good hiding place could be for an office key. She'd looked high and low for a safe place to store such an important object. Lara thought along the lines of the hider, who would want to trick the person trying to find it. In the first room Lara was in, she had searched through thoroughly at every piece within the room, but could not find anything corresponding to the discovery of the office key. She decided to have a look in the other room, for any clues leading her to the key. Again as Lara made her first step into the second part of the Roman expedition, she became speechless.

This part of the expedition had a unique three piece statue at the end of the room. As well as other features similar to the first part of the Roman expedition, for instance classic vases. But it was the three piece statue that interested Lara. She walked towards it and began to examine the monumental sculpture. It was the statues of three standing up right historical Roman figures, banded together by a concrete platform stone underneath them. Lara examined the statue with a high level of concentration, since it was the only object that stood out in comparison to all other pieces, within the Roman collection the expedition had to offer overall.

While observing the statue, something off putting was caught at the corner of her eye. She made her way over to the spotted error in the widely built statue. On one of the Roman soldiers, his armour, sword everything was there, except for a shield. The emptiness of the hand was stuck out, wanting to hold onto something like a shield of some sorts. It was then, Lara was also drawn to what may happen if she were to find this requirement, and place it at the palm of the hand. She looked behind the arm, but could not find any mechanic works or any kind. 'It must be internal, within the shoulder of the solider' Lara thought, and she began to feel for a gap for where the shoulder may have similar functionality to a lever.

Lara put firm pressure onto the palm of the solider statues' hand. Almost immediately, she felt the hand lever operate pushing it down. The function of the lever had brought Lara the answer to what she had been searching for, 'The Office Key!' It was sealed hidden within the walls of the expedition, concealed to where a painting of the Roman leader Julius Caesar was hiding the key. Having found the location of the office key, Lara released the pressure she was putting upon the hand lever, and moved towards the revealed office key.

But as Lara had let herself go from the statues' hand palm, the lever brought itself back up, meaning that the revealed office key was now concealed away once again. Annoyed by this upbringing, Lara knew what she had to search for to gain access to the office key, which was the mantle shield piece this statue was missing. In a short few seconds, amongst the collection of all manner of very old weapons and artillery found on the floor, Lara found a heavily decorated stone shield. This looked a bit out of place among the other equipment, but it would have been enough to fool someone walking by it without notice. Swiftly, not wanting to waste anymore time Lara grabbed the shield. 

To her surprise it wasn't actually very heavy, and she proceeded to move it and place it upon the statues' palm. Repeatedly the same process happened, but this time around when Lara had released her grip from the shield and the pressure she put onto the hand lever, it had stayed to the 'unlock' position.

After obtaining the office key from its hidden sanctuary, Lara backtracked her way back to the locked door of the fourth floor office. She inserted the key and turned it twice, with a reassuring sound of an unlocking sound. First impressions of the office were instantly what Lara thought it may be, just an ordinary office with a pine softwood desk as well as a leather upholstery chair. A computer was also set up on top of the desk, but there was no need to use it at all. The desk had featured three drawers, which were all unlocked to Lara's satisfaction, and she searched through them one by one.

The first drawer had only office supplies filled with items like pencils, pens and paper etc, none of which could be of any use. Pulling open the second drawer, Lara was taken back a bit to what it had contained ... 'Dual Pistols!' There they were both neatly placed within a foam outline shaped like the guns themselves. Lara pulled them out, along with the additional clips that were stored too. At last she was properly armed, ready to engage the thieves and to get back the sword that they had stolen.

Lara moved onto the final third drawer. Unsurprisingly after rummaging through the belongings properly of the person who is meant to be in charge of the floor, e.g. spare clothes and cards etc. She found a key with a marked engraving saying 'Fire escape key'.

Retracing her steps back to the locked fire escape door, Lara thought of how far the intruders would have gotten. 'I will soon find out' she assumed. Turning the fire door key and pushing on the handle bars, Lara flung open the fire escape door. Straightaway she was met with a brick wall with a ladder, leading upwards to what may be the roof of the museum. Without delay, Lara made her first step onto the ladder and began her descendent up, going as quick as her arms and legs would go. During the long climb up on the long winding ladder, Lara contemplated on the strange architecture of the building. It was most certainly abnormal for a fire escape route to be on the rooftop.

This thought was dismissed as Lara had finally reached to the top of where the ladder had taken her. While lifting herself onto the platform, she spotted an abandoned radio left on the floor. It was still active, and automatically the loudspeaker of the radio came to life with a deep husky voice, "Leader to team! Helicopter leaves in three minutes, over!"

'Three minutes! I have to stop them!' Instantly Lara dashed out to the opening light to the left side, dropping the radio along the way.


	3. Rooftops

**- Rooftops**

Running as fast as she can, heart rapidly beating and breathing heavily, it wasn't long until Lara was met with the outside open air. Looking from left to right, she saw on the lower ground that security was gathering up altogether. They were moving towards the next few blocks along the street, blocking any public access to the museum. Lara then heard the motor sound of the helicopter very close by, as she took a glance over to the right side and there it was.

Over on the next few rooftops, she saw the thieves preparing for takeoff with one of them having the stolen sword strapped onto his backside. The clocks stopped for Lara, every second that was available to her, she hastily had to find a way to pursue the helicopter, and defeat the thieves along with it. It was already decided for Lara, who was about to make a bold move, which could put her in a lot of danger. But she dismissed that thought, and on the double started to run on top of the glass rooftop of the museum.

It was a matter of a few meters between the museum, and the next apartment rooftop. Lara saw the opportunity of doing a running-jump from the ledge, in order to make it to the other side. The time had come, and Lara paced herself even further coupled with a strong leap from the ledge of the glass rooftop, onto to the apartment top... she had made it. Getting ever so closer to the helicopter, one of the thieves had spotted Lara and warned the others to get their weapons, ready to fire at her!

Using the dual pistols found in the fourth floor office, Lara engaged the thieves who were already nearly ready to fly away in the helicopter. Enemy bullets were spraying around everywhere. In reply, Lara began shooting at the thieves from a mid-range distance. One of her bullets was able to disarm one of the mercenaries. She could hear the cry of pain from that person, who'd, had fallen onto the floor in agony. The other mercenary had just ignored him, and saved himself by getting onboard onto the helicopter.

Because of this outcome, Lara started firing at the helicopter itself. Each of her bullets aimed directly at the body of the machine. "Let's go, hurry up!" Lara heard one of the thieves say. The helicopter began to take off from the ground, with most of the men onboard watching her. In response and not wanting to lose the sword, Lara withdrew the pistols and sprinted for the helicopter. Just as it was preparing to change direction, a mercenary had dropped out of the cockpit, and started to dangle upon the landing rails of the helicopter.

Lara reached out for the helicopter just as it was about to go any farther. Unexpectedly it was moving too far away for her grasp, so bravely she jumped off the ledge it had passed. One of the thieves dangling out of the helicopter just watched her, until she got ever closer to the rail bar of the flying machine. The thief took action to this nuisance. He took hold of the sword, and before Lara was able to make her next move, she saw an evil grin smirked across the thief's face, as he took a swipe at Lara with the sword. "Ouch!" Lara exhaled as she felt the pain mercifully from her arm.

She had just been cut with the sword's blade! However it was not too severely. It was then the thief spoke darkly. "You have sealed your fate my dear. You will become the chosen one!" he shouted. It was that moment gravity had taken place, and Lara felt herself falling very quickly, moving further away from the helicopter. 

"AAAARGH"! Lara screamed. It seemed as she was very quickly falling to her death! She needed to act fast now! Otherwise it would be all over. It was at that precise moment Lara realised that she was still close to the ledge of the building. Using all her strength that was available to her, she stretched out for the landing. Cursing but relieved, Lara had only managed to catch onto the ledge. But the pain was unbearable as she nearly pulled her bicep muscle holding onto the edge.

Using the other hand, she hoisted herself onto the platform and glanced over to the direction of the helicopter, just continuously staring at it. The helicopter was heading in the east direction, moving towards the tallest skyscrapers in New York City. The thief that had struck Lara with the blade had now moved himself to the cockpit of the helicopter. 'Chosen one? What did he mean?' thought Lara, while she made her descant downwards to meet up with Jane, and to explain what had happened.

Later in the museum, Lara had caught up with Jane, and debriefed her of the situation. During this time Jane had already spotted Lara's cut from the sword's blade, so likewise she bandaged her injured arm. Both were sitting in the Shipwrecks and Lost Treasures section, near towards to where the burglary crime scene had been committed.

"He said that I was the chosen one" explained Lara to Jane.

Both looked at each other for a moment, and then Jane with a lot of concern told Lara the bad news of what that thief did to her.

"OH NO! Lara you have been cursed! Those men must have been from the cult of the Dark Queen!" Jane told Lara, as a very gloomy appearance grew on Jane. She remembered her encounter with the leader, known as the Bokor a while back, knowing what a torment and sinister figure he is.

"They believe whoever has been cut by the sword can be used as a vessel for the spirit of their Queen! You must find their lair and defeat their leader or..." Jane paused for a bit, wondering how she was going to say it to Lara.

"Or What"? Lara asked her friend.

Jane sighed out. "Your life would end! You must find Pino Lamor. He is an old shaman who lives in a disused part of the subway, somewhere under the old Bergen street line". Jane handed Lara the map of the subway, so that she could examine it.

"Why does he live there"? Lara questioned.

"He was part of the movement dedicated to destroying the Bokor. He now lives in hiding but he will help you, once he sees you are marked" Jane replied.

Lara gave a worried expression, and Jane could see it in her eyes. "Go as quick as you can, they will be after you! Good luck Lara, I'll catch up with you later!"

They said their farewells, and Lara made her way to the exit of the museum. Now knowing that her life was at stake, she hurried along to the subway using the map Jane had given to her earlier.


	4. Subway

**- Subway**

Passing through the crowds of people isn't easy. Especially when you are in a rush, it is not helpful at all. During her race to the subway, Lara was held up by a gathering crowd of people. All were wondering what had just happened at the museum, along with news reporters and the press there. She had to skip quite a feat to get pass, but this was quite time consuming trying to get through. If it weren't for security or the police blocking some crowds, it would have been more difficult.

Lara crossed the streets of New York City, and after a couple of minutes she found herself at the entrance of Culver Line Subway. Without hesitation, she entered. It wasn't busy at all, and it took no time for Lara to be facing a barred entrance to the lower levels of the abandoned part of the subway. The map Jane had given her served her well, as it had led Lara straight to where she needed to go. The area entranceway was blocked by three wooden blocks, with a red painted word saying 'Abandoned'. She got down into a crawl stance, moved past the barrier through a gap, and continued with her passage using the map as a guide.

A long winding tunnel was leading Lara deeper underground. During that time, it got ever darker with very much dimmed lights that were, either not giving out enough light to see properly, or not shining at all. Luckily for Lara, a pack of flares that were stored away in her backpack would come in handy to light her way through. She got out one flare from her backpack, and lit it using a lighter that was also packed within the rucksack. The flare shone brightly enough to allow Lara to carry on with her journey through the oval tunnel. As Lara got ever further, it started to become a lot dirtier than before.

With the flare, Lara could see a pack of rats scurrying along the side of the tunnel, gathering scraps of whatever was on the floor. She could tell not a single person hadn't given one thought about this area in a very long time. The brick walls were covered in a mixture of dirt and tar, while the ceiling was crying for a clean scrub. There also really wasn't a floor with all the left behind pieces of newspaper and waste just rotting. It was as if that had become the new walkway for those who travelled through. 

The decomposing tunnel ended, and it had brought Lara to a deserted station. Old pillars, in addition to arches were supporting and holding the foundations upright. Many with torn or ripped posters stuck to them advertising many old classic products and events. Taking the first few steps in the station, Lara furthermore scanned her surroundings. Some vending machines were placed at the ends of the platform. They could have been working or not, it didn't really matter. To her left was the railway lines of the station, there were two of them leading to even more tunnels. One of the lines had a tram, which looked horribly abused. Most windows on there were either cracked or smashed, and the main tram body was covered in a muddle of graffiti, heavy dents and chips. Not only was there damage to that particular tram, but everywhere along the wall tiles or any aspect of the building had been spoiled by rebellious behaviour.

Lara thought better than to search through the network of the trams, as for all she would know the lines could still be active flowing with electricity. That would give a nasty shock to Lara's body. Furthermore the lines from this area could well lead to a huge network, so she thought best to ignore it for the time being. Instead, even with all the rubbish and broken signs, Lara was able to spot an elevator just a few yards from where she was. She approached it, called the lift and waited for a response... Nothing!

'Blast, there might not be enough power for the elevator' Lara suggested. Now she has to find the generator room in order to provide more power to the elevator to run. Strangely enough, the answer to the reason why the elevator wasn't working was right next to the lift itself, the machine room. Lara entered the stairway leading up to a small room above the lift. There she saw all what kind of elevator it was.

The system installed was a roped designed elevator, as Lara recognised the three parts of this kind of system at the room. These were the control system, which was connected to the electric motor that would power and rotate the sheave. The sheave had wrapped around it three steel wire ropes. They move the elevator up or down depending on the user wishes or the current position of the lift.

As Lara moved towards the control system to analyse what problems it was currently having, right away she noticed that the system was not activated. The control system had an opening just below the monitor, allowing the internal electrics to be checked out by an engineer or someone of that position. Lara opened up the compartment and scanned the circuit board of the control system. All components seemed to be present and none looked damaged, as a circuit diagram was printed on one of the opening doors. This allowed Lara to see what required parts should be present in the circuit with the aim of operating the elevator.

She went through checking the list and then making sure each required part was presently there. Once she spotted a component on the circuit board, she moved onto the next needed component on the list. A few minutes passed, and within that time, Lara had knowledge of what was missing from the circuit... the fuse. All components were present, except for that crucial part in order to make the elevator operate.

'There must be some spare fuses around this place'. Lara thought as she wondered if there was some kind of storeroom or such, where supplies can be kept. It certainly wasn't in the room she happened to be in, since it can be compared to an empty room with only the machinery to operate the lift. Because of having to find the whereabouts of the missing fuse, Lara thought it be best to once again have a look in the station, to see if she had missed any other rooms in that area. Turning back to the stairway leading into the platform, Lara moved past the elevator and moved to the end of the station.

It was there, being closer to that she noticed what she had missed earlier. A metal sheeted door marked, 'Store Room' was very well hidden, due to all the muck and filth that surrounded it. 'Please be unlocked for once' Lara wished. She wrapped the palm of her hand around the doorknob, twisted it... then pushed the door. Gladness filled Lara, her wishes came true, and with a bit of force the quite rusty door became loose and opened widely.

Stacks of unopened boxes had just been left lying on the unclean floor. Also many spare parts were too placed in this room, for example tram windows or chairs that were from good condition to unopened packages. Above near the ceiling to keep the area cool, vents and fans were installed in order to keep the room cool for whoever enters. Shame though for Lara, that all the items in the room occurred to be in a fragmented, unsorted state. 'I have to start somewhere', so Lara began to search for the fuses that she needed to allow the elevator to be once more functional again.

Looking high and low, moving from item to item, Lara continuously hunted for the fuse. She was making good progress, and along with her patience, Lara at last found a box containing the bespoke fuse. To her astonishment that was the last one, and if there wasn't one at all, Lara definitely would have to force her way down the elevator, which she didn't want to do. Now having the fuse held in her hand, Lara hurried back to the elevator machine room and inserted the one of a kind fuse into the appropriate slot in the circuit board. 

All of a sudden, the machine became active and the sheave began to move in a counter clockwise direction. This meant that the lift was moving downwards through the elevator shaft, and still was functioning properly. Swiftly Lara made her way back to the elevator doors, and called upon the lift using the switch beside the doors. But as the lift began to make its ascension upwards due to her call, Lara's instinct began to warn her of danger ahead.

Even though she had many excitements being in danger, and had always trusted her instinct, Lara decided to hide herself behind a close pillar. A few seconds passed, and Lara heard the elevator door open, but strangely she also overheard... footsteps!

"Did you find and dispose of him?" a man had asked the other person, as Lara sneakily peered to see what kind of men these were. There were two of them, thugs Lara thought.

"No, I wasn't able to find him. I searched everywhere but I found no sight of that shaman" the thug answered.

"Are you sure you searched properly?" asked the second thug.

"Positive, a tram was blocking one of the paths through a tunnel, so I couldn't search there and..." stopped the first thug.

"Yes?" the second thug said, wanting his partner to finish his sentence.

"Well, I started hearing noises, but not the sort of noises you would expect to hear on a platform" told the thug.

"What kind of noises?" the second thug questioned.

"To be honest I can't explain what they sounded like. Probably something you would hear in a scary movie, 'cause that what it felt like" replied the first thug.

"Unbelievable! Sometimes I can't believe the rubbish you come out with. Well the Bokor won't be pleased with our results, and it's entirely your fault!" the second thug retorted.

"WHY WAS IT MY FAULT!? What were you doing then?" the first thug shouted.

"I was holding back, just in case someone came wondering around" answered the second thug.

"Well, why have we stopped our search? We can still carry on further can't we?" said the first thug.

"The Bokor has called upon every member. He's ready to talk about the next part of the plan, and wants all of us present" said the second thug in reply, and both started to walk away from the elevator, to the exit of the area. 

Lara waited for the two thugs to leave, until she felt it was safe to come out of her hiding place. Thanks to the thugs' information, she knew that Pino Lamor was hidden in a secure place, and it could be quite difficult getting access too. Furthermore, one of the thugs spoke of unreal noises, Lara wondered what he really meant by it. Finally, she had to hurry since the leader was moving onto the next stage of his diabolical plan.

The elevator doors were still open, so Lara stepped inside and had a look at the options of where the lift can go. There were two options, one tagged 'Floor 2: Platform 9' and the other tagged 'Floor 3: Platform 10'. Lara took out the map given to her by Jane, and turned it around onto the back, to see the notes she had left for her. She read the note 'Lara, Pino is located on platform 10. He will be waiting for you'. Because of this, Lara pushed the button for the lift to go down to the 10th platform.

The lift descended down the shaft and took only a few seconds, until it had reached the 10th platform with doors slowly opening. Immediately platform 10 was a bit darker compared to the previous floor, but Lara was still able to make out what was there. It was smaller than she expected, only consisting of one walkway to the left, while to the right was the tram line with a half's length of a tram stuck in between a tunnel at the end. Lara walked across the walkway. It was only a short one at that, and there was a dead-end with no other features. Lara decided to check out the tram, she knew thanks to the first thug that he was unable to move it, so she wondered what this cause was.

Most of the inside was the same as the outside, not only disgusting, but also getting to the point of revolting. The tram seats were either stained or ripped apart from over the years, and nearly all the poles, doors and the inside steel walls were covered in graffiti and other damage. The tram floor was too covered in a mixture of people's waste collected in time. Lara headed straight to the front of the tram, wanting to see the state of the controls, whether they were operational or not. As Lara got further into the tram, it started to get darker. But thanks to the lighting above in the ceiling, she was still able to see her passage through.

The door to the front console room was luckily unlocked, and Lara entered through. Right away in front of her was the controls for the tram, and looking straight, the windows were showing nothing but pitch blackness. 'I wonder what is there'. Lara thought, she searched for the flashlights button on the control panel. Lara skipped past a few, until she found a sliver rounded shaped button, with a black outlined diagram showing what looked like a light beam. Thinking this could be the correct switch, Lara pushed it using her index finger. Without further ado, the beams on the tram began to shine quite brightly, letting Lara see what was ahead in the tunnel. Parts of the light were reflected on the remnants of the track where it had not rusted thoroughly, and these helped Lara see even further ahead. 

"Oh my...!" Lara became speechless due to what she saw on the rail tracks in front of the tram. There was a person with back and arms flopped and hunched to one side, not moving at all, just standing there motionless. Wanting to see if this person still had any sanity left, using one of her pistols, Lara took it out of her holster and shot at the window. BANG! Unpredictably however, the bullet did not shatter the glass, 'Blast!', 'Bulletproof Glass!' Lara managed to dodge the bullet, just as it was bouncing back from the window. She furthermore sought the problem to what the controls had, until she finally found out what it was.

The lever for controlling whether the tram was able to accelerate forward or reverse backwards was missing from its appropriate position in the terminal. Lara second guessed that the lever may be elsewhere. She had already mostly travelled through the platform she was already on, and did not see any lever laying about. Lara decided to check out the second floor, which has the ninth platform. She speculated that one of the trams on that floor may have a lever, that then she can take out and use for this particular one.

On the double, Lara made haste to the elevator, pushed the caller switch to call it and got inside. Using the lift controls, she pressed the button for the second floor. The lift elevated Lara upwards by one level, then opened up, revealing the current state of the ninth platform. In all fairness, to Lara it was the same as all the other floors, a mixture of dirt and rubbish stained and left all around. Leaving the elevator, Lara was situated in between two track lines, one to her left and the other to the right, with one long walkway straight in front. Both tracks had one tram each in them, but just as Lara was about to make her move, something stopped her.

Lara was being approached by something far away from being human. Arms were pointed in her direction, and it was moving pretty swiftly towards her. Lara drew out her pistols and aimed for what seemed to be a disjoined head, held by a wrong angled neck. It was a gruesome encounter, but Lara held her strong stance, "Freeze, Stop Where You Are!" she shouted, enough to nearly echo the whole platform. The creature however did not obey Lara's order, and had continued to move ever closer. This time it had started to open its mouth, revealing rotten mottled teeth, wanting to sink them into Lara's skin!

In fact at first, Lara thought this may have been a zombie, as it had the same characteristics and style. However, she wasn't too far from the truth. Lara took her chances, and began to shoot directly in the forehead of the creature. BANG! BANG! Two shots were all it took for the creature to fall onto the ground. Horrifically however, without a head, the creature incredibly was still active, and was capable of getting itself up from the ground to continue pursuing Lara. In turn, Lara changed her aiming from the now deceased head, to the main body of the creature.

Nevertheless though, no matter how many bullets she had shot at the creature, its body seemed to be more absorbent to the bullets compared to the head. She quickly decided to change tactic. Just as the creature was about to take a swipe at Lara, she countered attack with a strong side kick in the chest of the creature. Because of the strength the impact from the kick made, the creature at once stumble and fall to the ground again, only this time around it did not get up again.

Researching her pursuer, Lara was flabbergasted for what she had analysed. She really didn't know what it was. Only that it had very similar features to that of a zombie from many horror movies. One of these distinguishing features was its flaking pale skin which she didn't want to touch at all. It furthermore had hollow black eyes, followed by little hair, rags for a shirt and a pair of leggings. Dismissing the creature, though she believed that there may be more of these things around, Lara chose the left tram to hunt down a suitable lever to move the tram blocking entry to the main tunnel.

She entered the tram, and wasted no time getting to the front control room of the tram. It had the same layout as before with the previous tram, and Lara instantly found the lever she required. To make sure that it would work properly, and not for example snap out of place due to wear and tear, Lara tested by pulling the lever downwards... no response. In spite of this though, Lara noticed as she pulled upon the lever that the lights on the tram had dimmed. Because of this, she knew what the problem was, which was that there isn't enough power through this particular track. It didn't matter though, as this track was different to the one Lara needed to move the tram blocking the way forward. Satisfied with the lever she found, Lara pried it out from the lock it was held into. She made her way back to the elevator and called it to take her to the tenth platform below.

The sound of screeching rails filled the platform, as Lara was able to insert the newly acquired lever into the lock, and reverse the tram itself. Finally Lara was able to get through and explore the tunnel, looking for the hideout of the shaman Pino Lamor. It was that split second that Lara heard a noise just while exiting the tram. "OOoooohhhh"! Was the creepy noise she heard. Weary that it could mean a signal for danger, Lara drew out her pistols, holding them ever so tightly, and she began to proceed slowly towards the unblocked tunnel.

She was unsurprised though of what it was making that noise... another unidentifiable creature. 'So that was what I saw earlier looking out that window' thought Lara, whilst the creature had just sluggishly turned around, meeting Lara eye to eye. The creature did not look pleased to see Lara, caught by surprise it began to sprint straight at her!

Having to react quickly, Lara using her gymnast skills manoeuvred sideways by doing a cartwheel, dodging an attempted clenched fist punch from the creature. In turn, Lara pulled both the triggers on her dual pistols, and without hesitation, bullets started firing out at the creature. She was using the same method as before, head first then body. Likewise before, the head had become decapitated once shot at, leaving just the body to deal with. Again the faking body was more resistant to bullets, compared to the skull. Changing her stance, and thanks to the experience she had already learnt from the previous encounter, Lara had put away her guns, and positioned herself for hand to hand combat with the creature.

Lara was continuously straight punching the creature. It seemed to be taken aback from the impact, until she switched from the jab to an uppercut. This move nearly pushed the creature beyond the boundary of being knocked out. At the last second, Lara delivered the final blow, a front kick forcefully squared out in the belly of the beast. There was no reaction from the creature, as it had fallen to the ground defeated, only twitching for a few moments, and then not being able to move. Following the direction of the tunnel, it began to become darker. Struggling to see properly Lara got out a flare, lit it and pointed the bursting flame out in front of her, revealing even more pathway.

Lara delved further into the tunnel. It became so dark even the flare wasn't near enough to light her way through..."WHOA!" She only just stopped in her tracks, her footing nearly slipped into a pitch black hole in the ground. Lara now keeping her balance, treaded carefully around, from only just being able to save herself for what might have been a deep pit. She sighed and became in deep relief, then pondered on how that manhole was created. 'Maybe an explosion or accident occurred here a while ago' Lara thought. Advancing from the manhole, in the darkness Lara spotted a dimmed yellow and red light coming further ahead from the side of the tunnel wall.

Cautiously she approached the light, which was flickering only a few meters away from where she was. Another manhole appeared into view, but this time it was situated to the left side of the tunnel. This was where the light seemed to be originated from. With one pistol at the ready, Lara entered the suitably sized maintenance hole. 

What she stepped foot into took her by complete surprise, it was a mixture of a hidden walkway with an abandoned train, and some sort of... home. Someone's belongings were placed out along on the floor, and she scanned the area, wondering where she was. At that moment, a man stepped out from the train, and walked over to Lara's position with the help of his walking stick. He was wearing a blue ragged shirt along with cream trousers, which were covered in dirt. He also featured grey long hair as well as a bushy beard, and finally blue silver eyes. He came over to Lara, and both exchanged handshakes to greet each other. This must have meant she was located underneath Bergen street line, and had finally found the shaman, Pino Lamor.

"Glad to see you made it Ms. Croft. Jane sent word that you were coming" said the shaman, who examined Lara immediately after the greeting. He instantly saw the bandage that was covering her wound from early on. Lara was interested to know if Pino had the answers to knowing what those creatures were, that she had encountered twice trying to get here.

"Mr. Lamor what were those creatures back there? Does it have something to do with the Bokor?" Lara had asked him. The shaman thought for a second, until his answer came with a soft spoken voice.

"Those creatures are some kind of zombie-like species. The sword can be used to raise the dead. Hmmm it seems the Bokor, and his group are trying to restore their leader, Paveaux. Because you have been marked they will try to use your body as a vessel!" answered Pino Lamor.

Both Lara and Pino walked towards the tram he had just come out off to greet her. He spoke once again.

"Thanks to my sources, I have discovered that they have warehouses at the harbour. If you can find out where they are going, we can retrieve the sword" explained Pino Lamor.

He then put his hand onto the handle bar of the train. "I do not have any equipment here suitable for pursuing them, so you will need to infiltrate the warehouses and use theirs. This train here will take you there, quicker than any other means of transportation" added Pino, as he moved away from the train and onto a big switch with an electric diagram on top.

"At the moment, there is no power to the train, but activating this switch will provide the power for it to run. Once I throw this switch, only you can stop the train in the front carriage. You better hurry though, as you will not have much time!" Pino stated, as Lara dashed up onboard the train. He pulled the switch down. There was a slight shutter from the train, and then it began rolling away. Lara stuck herself out in the opening entrance of the train.

"I will Pino and thanks!" she shouted to him. The train started to gather speed, and within a blink of an eye, he disappeared into the distance.


	5. Runaway Train

**- Runaway Train **

Speeding along, getting ever faster at a rate of velocity, the train seemed to be gaining more acceleration through the track. Lara could feel it not holding back at all, she felt as if the train was going around 200 mph! Maybe she was over exaggerating, but she knew it wasn't too far off. Lara remembered what Pino had told her, that she needed to get to the front carriage in order to control the speed or stop the train altogether. Nonetheless, it was unlucky for Lara, who was situated right in the final carriage of the train. She had to get to the front carriage. Otherwise the train would either run out of track or even worse, lose control completely!

Though there was quite high g-forces, Lara managed to keep her balance on the train, and motioned herself to move forward. Even though the train wasn't violently shaking too much, it was still a pain to get to the end of the carriage. She opened the carriage door that revealed the bridge connection between the two carriages. Steadily, Lara placed her foot onto the bridge, and stretched out to grab the next carriages' handle to pull upon. It swung wide open, and Lara hopped over to the carriage, and wasted no time moving swiftly along to the other side. 'At least I don't have to dodge or manoeuvre around the seats' Lara considered, while running past the many rows of bolted chairs.

Lara made note of the holes, even she can fit through them, and they were implemented above on the ceiling, just in case she may need to use them. Lara reached the end of the second carriage, held onto the handle and pulled on it. It wouldn't open. "Shoot!'' 'It must be jammed' she suggested. Now, this meant that the only means of proceeding forwards would be utilising the giant holes in the ceiling.

Making use of the seating arrangement in the carriage, Lara got onto one of the chair standings, looked up at the ledge of hole she had chosen, and prepared herself. Maintaining upright, Lara jumped using most of her strength, grabbed hold of the ledge of the ceiling manhole, and hoisted herself up onto the roof. There she was only capable of kneeling down, and barely had room enough to move onward. Coming in to the left, Lara had to roll out of the way of some fast approaching piping installed along the arched tunnel. After rolling, Lara was now to the right side of the train roof. She carried on moving until she reached the end of the carriage roof. Underneath was another bridge connecting to the third carriage, and Lara brought herself down to that level, being ever so vigilant. 

'Not another jammed door' grunted Lara, as there was yet another blocked door barring the way to the front carriage. She really didn't want to make her way past it using the roof again, thus thought of their maybe being another method. It then came to her, she looked to the left and right sides of the carriage, and to the right at hand was a metal bar leading to the end of the carriage. 'Well that would be a more convenient way' Lara approved. Using her right hand, she grabbed onto the rail, and in turn pulled her whole body to the side.

She proceeded to move in a pattern to her right by shimming across the rail swiftly, but also warily, not wanting to slip off and fall to her death. The speed of the train made it quite difficult to move in the opposite direction, but she still was competent to do it. While Lara was moving along, she had a peek of how many carriages there were to go, '1, 2 and 3, including the one she was on' she counted out.

'Three down, 3 to go' Lara assured herself. She was now at the halfway point, and was glad that the door leading to the fourth carriage was not jammed or locked. Lara kept progressing forward through the carriage, and whizzed past the fourth one with no problem. Moving onto the fifth carriage, this particular one did not have any seats, just luggage compartments along with shelves and racks. Because of this, it was even harder to shift around the carriage, as every part of the interior was filled with empty discarded suitcases and travelling gear, which was a nuisance for Lara to get by. 

A duck and a skip soon later, and Lara managed to get through the discomforting carriage. But she still had to be quite flexible, to avoid many of the equipment being chucked around due to the speed of the train. Lara exhaled out 'Last one'. She opened up the carriage door and it revealed the final bridge way to the last front carriage. To Lara's annoyance though, the door leading into the final carriage was barricaded from the inside. So she had to find another way of getting to the controls. She looked to her left, and gratefully found a rail similar to the one before that she can use to get at to the controls. That was the good news, until she spotted what was at the other end of the tunnel...it was a train stopper!

Lara had to act fast. The train was currently going to quick for it to be stopped instantly, and will crash immediately once it hits the stopper. The stopper was still about a mile or two away, so with no dithering, Lara moved hastily onto the rail. She'd timed her movements accurately, as she had no time for mistakes or hanging back on the edge. A window of opportunity arose, at the end of the rail alongside the carriage.

There was an opened window, for which Lara could squeeze her body into. She allowed herself to gain momentum, and then made an attempt at diving into the window due to the angle she was in. '3...2...1... ' she breathed in and made her move.

Rolling on the floor of the sixth and final carriage, Lara successfully gained access to the carriage without any harm. Not giving herself any time to recover, she directly went for the controls. She saw the lever for putting the brakes on, and reached out to grab it. Using every ounce of her faltering strength, Lara clutched the lever and pulled upon it. The brakes on the train instantly came on, in a similar fashion compared to assisted brakes on a vehicle. Lara was swung into the opposite direction quite vigorously.

The train came to a halt just before the stopper, not moving another inch. Lara nearly fell into unconsciousness, and for the first time didn't feel right. She felt not in control of her body at that very moment, as if someone else was trying to control her. "...Paveaux" Lara breathed out, and she slowly passed out. 

A couple of long minutes later, Lara awoke from her unconsciousness, regaining control of her body. She looked round to see if she had moved anywhere else, but she didn't move at all since her blackout. 'I've got to get a move on' acknowledged Lara. She felt her body was in the beginning stages of becoming Paveaux's vessel. She pulled herself together, and got out of the train carriage.

Scanning her surroundings, Lara was still in the tunnel, but there was sunshine coming from above. Looking up, Lara saw some sort of cave opening up top, and using the train she climbed her way up. Extraordinarily, the cave like opening climb had led Lara just outside the harbour, as she smelled the seaside air and saw the docks along with boats. Grabbing her backpack in addition to looking inside, Lara got out a pair of binoculars 'Good thing I packed these' she thought and began to view the area.

Hoping that she was in the correct harbour, it only took a few seconds for her to realise that she was indeed at the right one. Thanks to the scope of her binoculars, she spotted the same helicopter that she previously went after, while on the museum rooftops. 'The Helicopter!', 'So they ARE going to travel by sea! I must find some way of tracking that boat.' She tugged her binoculars away, and begun to plan her next move of action. It was a shame that she didn't pack any tracking gear, but she was hoping that she would find some miraculously down in the harbour somewhere. Lara placed her rug sack behind her back, and she began to make her way down to the harbour.


	6. Docks

**- Docks**

Seagulls were squawking away up in the sky, the sound of horns from the many ships arriving or departing from the harbour, the sight of warehouses and the outer sea was a good description of what the harbour had. Lara stashed herself into hiding just before entering the harbour complex. She decided that this was the right moment to contact Jane, to inform her of where she was, and what she was going to do.

"...So here I am just outside Portway harbour, I'm going to have to try and find some way of tracking their boat" Lara informed Jane by mobile.

"Okay Lara, I know an airport hanger very nearby there, so we can meet up and discuss our next move. I'll meet you there in about the next 40 minutes to an hour or so" replied Jane.

"Yep will do Jane, and thanks so much" Lara told her friend and ended the call. Making sure her pistols were reloaded properly, she took a deep breath and snuck herself inside the harbour stronghold.

Stacks of crates, and old 1950's era buildings had made up most of the walkway straight in front of Lara. Further up ahead, Lara saw two buildings that might be of some importance to the cult, due to her seeing two members standing around, guarding them both. She took a closer look one of the buildings, it had the title of 'Warehouse Offices', and what a tatty building it was. To Lara, it looked like the building was about to collapse. A better conditioned warehouse was very close by, and Lara got closer, hiding herself behind one of the numerous crates scattered about. Peeking so that she wouldn't get spotted, Lara inspected the next warehouse along, 'Chemical Plant' she read out. 'What on earth could they be hanging out in a chemical plant for?' Lara wondered, as she pondered for a way getting pass the guards. She thought she would try and explore the Warehouse Offices first, to see if there may be anything useful inside to her.

Lara stopped to where she currently was, planning a way of getting through the two guards, as she didn't want to alarm the whole harbour of her presence. On the other hand, she withdrew her plans, since her answer came instantly when the two guards decided to have a little chit chat...

"How long have we been post here now, an hour or two?" questioned the nearest thug.

"I think at most about an hour. Want to talk about something for a time passer?" the further thug asked.

"Sure, hmmm... what's your biggest fear?" replied the goon.

"That's a good question, but I won't tell you, not until you tell me what yours is..."

"Alright, but promise not to laugh... I can't swim. I'm a bit scared of the water, and to be honest with you, I think the Bokor has stationed me very wrongly indeed" pointed out the goon.

Lara could well see that the furthest thug was doing his best to hold in his laughter, and that the other one didn't even notice it. "So what's your deepest fear?" continued the thug.

"Right, make sure you don't tell anyone else about this. Okay the thing I fear the most is... guns. Even though I have been involved in many robberies and crime scenes, I still am scared of them. They are a menace and quite threatening!" explained the further goon.

"Yeah man, I know what you mean..."nodded the thug in response. Overhearing the conversation, Lara decided to play at their disadvantages, and trap them into their fears. Beside the crate was a medium sized stone, she took hold of it, and threw it over pass the ledge into the sea.

"What was that?" an interrupted thug just quizzed, looking at his colleague in puzzlement.

"I dunno, let's check it out" and they both left their guarding stations, walking towards the cliff, and seeing what had caused the sudden splash. This was when Lara made her move. As the thugs went over to the cliff and peered over looking at the sea, sneakily she moved behind their backs.

With the goon who was afraid of water and cannot swim, Lara at once took him by surprise. Behind his back, Lara pushed the thug straight into the sea. A tiny whimper scream was all that was heard from him. Just before the other thug realised what had happened, it was already too late for him. A determined strong female voice ordered him to stop where he was.

The thug couldn't move, his worst fear had become real, and his fellow guarding partner was struggling to stay afloat. "Who are you?" he asked his soon to be executioner.

"That's not important. You're going to pretend you didn't see me walk through here, or you and your friend would meet an unpleasant end" responded Lara. The goon had unexpectedly started bursting out in laughter.

"You can't beat us! The Bokor has already announced that he would soon be within his final stages of planning. You don't even know where he has gone, so what you gonna do?!" boasted the thug.

"Don't you worry about that my good friend, just answer the question, are you going to let me through without any trouble, or not?" demanded Lara, she was preparing herself for some kind of counter attack, if she may need it.

"What do you think?" retorted the goon, and as quick as he can, he tried to reach his weapon to kill this intruder. He didn't care that she threatened him with his biggest fear. He was going to finally overcome it. Unfortunately for the goon, Lara had a quicker reaction time compared to him, and she shot him in the left temple of his head. Without a flinch, the goon immediately fell to the stone concrete floor. Lara instantly turned her pistol to his partner, but couldn't find him. 'Perhaps he sunk due to exhaustion'. With the threat now out of the way, Lara opened the doorway into the Warehouse Offices to have a search around. 

To her surprise, the warehouse wasn't actually filled with separate offices, as the title suggests. It was in fact a warehouse partly dedicated to storage, and moving it round to different parts. Sections of the warehouse had conveyor belts installed, along with in built cranes on the ceiling. Piles of crates and boxes were either left scattered on the floor, or neatly stacked on top of each other beside the conveyor belt machines. At the far side of the warehouse, there were some stairs leading to what may suppose to be an office. She decided that the office may be a good start point to explore, so she made her way to it, hoping it was not locked.

While she was walking for the office, Lara noticed that some of the flooring at the end of nearly all the conveyor belts was raised so slightly. 'I wonder what all these do?" wondered Lara. She ignored the temptation to find out, and carried on to the office. Up the stairs, she pulled down the door handle, and to her disappointment it was locked, like any other door she had come across before in her many adventures. Lara cursed, but now this was a good chance to investigate those elevated floors. For all she could know those could be pressurized tiles!

Lara went over to the closest elevated floor nearby the locked office stairs, and using her foot, she put some weight pressure on this tile. As predicted just a second ago, the tile sunk into the ground revealing a new puzzle for her to solve. But as she released the pressure from the tile, it retracted back into its original positioning, which meant that she will need something weighty in place. Furthermore, at the corner of this tile, Lara caught the slight of small in dent mark in the right of the pressure pad.

It was the Roman numeral symbol, XII, the number twelve. In order to beat the puzzle, and to unlock whatever it does, Lara counted out how many pressure pads she saw around the compound. Next, she observed the Roman numeric symbols, and associated them in what order she would find them. The numbers she found were very random, but Lara thought they must be in some specific order. She noted down what symbols she found, from all the pressure pads in the warehouse, 'XII, II, VI, IX, VIII, XIX, XL and XXIV'.

Following this, Lara converted these symbols into their numerical values, and rearranged them from lowest, to highest dominator:

II = 2

VI = 6

VIII = 8

IX = 9

XII = 12

XIX = 19

XXIV = 24

XL= 40

With this information, together with the location of each pressure pad, Lara mapped out the positioning of the pads, as well as in which order they should be pressed in.

To also help out, Lara used the crates and boxes to ensure that these pressure pads stay securely pressed down. She started with the first pressure pad, and using a neighbouring crate Lara lifted it, and placed it square in the middle of the pad. It sank deeper into the ground as anticipated, and without delay, Lara moved onto the second pressure pad. She had no problems for the next few pads, until there wasn't any more cartable crates, as they were either too heavy to carry, or too light for the pressure pad to sink in properly.

It was that time, Lara decided that she would use both the crane, and conveyor belts to finish off the remaining pads that she was unable to do. Lara operated the crane using a switch terminal close to the conveyor belt. The crane moved over to one of the stacked collection of crates. She instructed the crane to take hold of the top crate, lowered it and placed the wooden box onto the rubber strip of the conveyor machine.

Lara turned on the conveyor belt, and it began to rotate, moving along the crate to the other side. It landed straight onto the XIX pressure pad. Reassuringly, it did indeed sink into the floor. Using this procedure, Lara finished off the last of the pressure pads. This method astounded Lara, as all the pressure pads were sequential switches that once pressed in the correct order, it unlocked the office door, and that indeed was just what happened. She heard the unlocking "click" sound that came from the safety latch in-built into the office door. 

Happy with the results, Lara went straight up the stairs and opened the newly unlocked office door. There, Lara stepped into an awful of a mess office. Masses of papers and equipment were strewn all over the place, around the out of date computer desktop and stranded along the cabinets and shelves. 'Well, this place can do with a good spring clean' Lara thought. She began to search thoroughly in the office, looking inside cupboards and drawers, to see if she can find anything helpful.

In one of the cupboards, a key with a tag was placed inside. The tag read 'Chemical Plant Key'. This must have been the key to unlock the front door to the harbour plant. She stored it away in her backpack in order to use it later after a thorough search of the office. However something else caught Lara's eye. There at the corner beside one of the cupboards was one of her favourite weapons. "A Shotgun!" Lara held onto the handle and further examined it, as to whether or not it had any shells loaded. A box of shotgun shells was stored away inside of the cupboard it was leaning against, 'these would come in handy' Lara thought. She clipped the shotgun onto her backpack, as well as putting the shells into her backpack.

A picture frame of the harbour was hung up on the wall, but to some degree there was something not right about it. The frame itself was leaning forward, further away from the wall. 'That must be trying to hide something' Lara assumed, so she pulled the frame down. Her assumption was correct and after the frame was put down, a secured vault was revealed. It required a numbered code however, and Lara decided to search the rest of the office, in order to possibly find a piece of parchment having the code written on. All that was left to go through of the untidy office was one or two drawers on the computer desk. They too were filled with records of previous shipments and supplements when this warehouse was fully functioning.

Lara flicked through each one, hoping that a piece of paper showing the vault code would fall or appear. It wasn't until she reached the second drawer that a partly torn piece of paper was on show, revealing only a part section of the code. A '6' was written on the ripped piece, so with that number in mind, Lara continued going through the drawers.

There were in total of 4 drawers, Lara had already searched through 2 of them. The third one incidentally had letters with boxes of unused pens, pencils and erasers. She peeked at each letter, and on the sixth letter, another torn parchment was inside. Lara took it out and read the number, '9' she placed it next to the first piece and sought for the final code. The last drawer was quite empty, only containing some computer peripherals such as software or spare bits of hardware. A small box was placed in the corner, this had some disks inside, and Lara quickly browsed through them. The CD case designated as the relational database management software package (DBMS), had the needed last code piece. Lara opened the jewel case and got out the code. The number '1' was written onto it, and with this final piece, Lara placed it alongside the other two.

Corresponding to how they been ripped apart, Lara rearranged the torn pieces of paper, until each rip matched the other, similar to a simple puzzle. The rearrangement of the pieces had now read '916', and Lara inputted the code into the vault. It had swung open, and a card was within its safe internal cage. Lara took out the card, and read what it was. 'Security Pass' it said in black print. A barcode was beneath the lettering, and knowing she will need this for later, Lara stashed away the card pass in her backpack. The office was now fully explored, and had been rummaged through thoroughly. Without a second to lose, Lara rushed her way in the direction of the chemical plant, based there in the harbour.

Using the key she picked up in the office, Lara unlocked the doors to the chemical plant. It instantly took her by surprise in what state it was in. Drums of toxic waste were just dumped in the room, even some of the waste was leaking out some of them! A large pool of gushing toxic waste was also situated in the centre of the plant. Carefully doing her best to avoid both, Lara tip toed to the other side from the entranceway. There were three heavily sealed doorways, with small doubled glazed windows that Lara used to peer into each one of them.

The far left door had a relativity medium- sized office. Similar to the one Lara was in earlier, only that this particular one looked like if someone bothered to organise it, and keep it tidy. Lara tried the door, but as most often, these kinds of doors were always locked. Knowing she will be back with the key later on, Lara moved over to the second door. Through the protected glass, Lara immediately recognised what this kind of room was. Above near the ceiling were 8 ventilation fans installed all around, and a sign next to the doorway that warned of danger and caution when entering. This was an experimentation gas room.

But it wasn't that reason Lara didn't want to go inside the room, it was something more ghastly and gruesome that was circulating around in it. She gasped at the mere sight of it... a giant, some kind of 'super' zombie. It had exactly the same features as the ones Lara encountered in the subway. Only that it was enormous, and almost filling the whole room with every fibre of its repulsive spiralling body. 'Lucky I found that shotgun earlier' Lara appreciatively thought. She knew that it will definitely take more firepower to send back that grotesque back where it came from. Before engaging the beast, Lara decided to check out the third and final room, just in case there may be something useful. She glanced inside. It was a smaller room compared to the previous ones, with just cleaning materials and empty drums.

Nevertheless, Lara saw another guard on duty guarding what looked like a switch from afar. The guard was wearing some protective kit, compared to the thugs Lara faced outside. He wore a bulletproof vest, and also was sort of dressed in black uniform attire. Fortunately he was facing the other way from the door, so without a moment's hesitation, Lara made her move against him. Since he wasn't wearing any head protection, Lara used the hilt of the shotgun, crept up behind him and walloped him over the right temple of his head. All at once without knowing what had struck so brutally on his head, the guard fell onto the hard surfaced floor unconscious. With one more threat out of the way, Lara examined the switch that he was posted to watch. 

"Ventilation Fan Activation Switch" Lara read out the sign above the switch. It was already pulled downwards, signalling that the fans in the room with the huge zombie were active. 'I wonder what will happen to that zombie giant if I were to stop the fans functioning'. With that in mind, Lara grabbed the switch and pulled up on it to the deactivate state. Now that the fans were not operating, Lara believed that any gaseous experiment would have started filling the room next door. She was certain that a gas mask would be around in the area she was in. This would hopefully protect her from the harmful impact.

'Ah-Ha' was one of Lara's favourite phrases, and once she found what she needed, that is what she said with satisfaction. A discarded gas mask was among the cleaning utensils, and she tried on the mask, optimistically wanting it to be the perfect size tailored for her. By chance it did manage to fit, and with the gas mask in hand, Lara went back over to the second door. Only this time entering it with the mask firmly on, and the shotgun held in hand, locked onto her zombie target and loaded up ready to attack.

A purple gaseous haze filled the room, and it was taking full effect on the giant zombie. It looked like it was choking, not taking any notice of the surroundings. Seeing the zombie struggling and suffering away, Lara wanted to put it out of its misery and began to fire straight into the belly of the beast. BANG! The firing of the shotgun shell echoed in the room, and the giant zombie was taken back from the blow. Lara reloaded fast and took aim once again, this time to the head, and with one final shell shot, the beast was no more.

It just lay there static, beginning to quickly rot away due to the gas reacting to the deceased body. Not wanting to see anymore, Lara dashed over to the end of the room, and opened the armed door. She rushed to close it, as she didn't want gas escaping into the room she was about to explore. Any gas that did escape had already evaporated, and Lara began to discover what kind of room she had just entered. 

This wasn't any kind of room. What Lara had just stepped into was a bio-laboratory. Miscellaneous equipment was left on the worktops, such as vials of beakers (each filled with chemicals), pH indicators, thermometers and microscopes. It was the centre of the laboratory however, what had caught Lara's attention. Three huge glass cylinders, from floor to ceiling, were filled with liquid had bodies inside. But as Lara observed, these weren't to some extent any bodies, they were akin to the zombies she had seen throughout her journey. They looked to be experimented upon, and were inactive. Lara could well see that they were being tested on. 'So this is part of their hideout' Lara thought. The Bokor and his team must have been planning this for a long time. It was just then she spotted a door on the far side marked 'Private'. She took a closer look, and peered inside.

Even though it was a standard sized room, the whole of it had been converted in some sort of inner sanctum. A table was upright standing next to the wall. To the left and right side of the table were two sanctuary lamps, each flame continuously flickering. On top of the aged table, were decomposing skulls whom may have been old victims of somewhat. Hung up on the wall was a portrait of a woman dressed in robes, along with a staff in hand and a turban.

The old painting was in rich dark colours, but Lara automatically knew who it was, when she scanned the picture. 'This must be Madame Paveaux before her soul became one with the sword, the Bokor certainly is committed to worshipping her' Lara considered. She took one last glance at the creepy shrine, being sure that there was nothing collectible in there. She did however see two strange emblems engraved onto the wall next to the portrait, despite them being unimportant at this time, Lara took note of them. 

Lara continued investigating inside the laboratory, carefully not touching anything that may have been in contact with the chemicals. There was even one place behind a workbench, where a spillage had occurred, and no one seemed bothered to clean it up. In a few minutes, Lara had fully searched through the laboratory, and had found what she already needed, which was the chemical plant office key. It had been buried underneath heaps of paperwork in one the drawers she checked out. Finally with the key in hand, Lara put on the gas mask again, and backtracked her way towards the deserted office.

With the key fully turned into the lock, Lara entered the office. Since it was uncluttered, it didn't take her long to find out some vital information. In one of the recent documents, it became apparent that one of the ships was scheduled to set sail around 3:00 PM, to set course to an unknown island. Since she didn't know what time it currently was, Lara checked her mobile, and was immediately shocked that already it was 3:05PM! 'Blast! I better hurry!' As quick as she can, Lara scanned though the cabinet drawers that was positioned in the corner of the room.

Not for long, a smile had crossed Lara's face. In the last drawer, there was a wallet containing two keys and a certification for the use of a one person mini submarine, equipped with tracking gear and other tools. One of the keys was labelled the, 'mini-sub warehouse main key', while the other marked as the 'mini sub ignition key'. A convenient map was also stuck onto the office wall, showing where the location was of the warehouse Lara needed. She studied it and with the information in mind, Lara hurried herself to the mini-sub warehouse. 

The small warehouse that had stored mini-sub was literally next to the sea. As Lara neared closer to the warehouse doors, she saw the ship that she was after not too far away. Lara unlocked the padlock on the doors using the first of two keys she obtained in the chemical plant office, and entered cautiously.

No one was inside, and straightaway there was the mini sub in the centre, elevated by a bespoke crane above the waterline. A control terminal for the crane was on the other side to where she was, so hastily Lara ran for the controls to lower the portable sub onto the water. The crane started to lower the mini sub as instructed, and released its claw from the sub once it reached a certain level. Lara deactivated the crane, and went for the hatch of the one person sub. She made herself comfortable with the controls, testing them and ensured that the tracking device was equipped on one of its mechanical arms. Happy with the mini sub, Lara started the miniature motor, and began to delve further underwater, accelerating in the direction of the ship.

With the mini sub, being under the sea within the cockpit of it was comparable to an aquarium viewing. Much of the marine wildlife had lived either swimming around in the sea, or laid on the surface at the lowest level. This is what Lara mainly saw through the glass panes in the mini-sub during her chase. Lara got as low within the sea boundary as she possibly could, since she did not want the ship to raise the alarm of her appearance. She continued to drive low and in a little while she caught up with the ship.

Thanks to the mini-subs' ease of use navigational controls, Lara successfully managed to get close to the hull of the ship. Using the rotary mechanical arm built into the mini-sub, she placed the waterproof tracking device onto the ship watertight. Once stuck on, the device activated itself by flashing continuously. Lara doubled checked to make sure it was working correctly, using the separate GPS part of the tracking gear. Once contented, she backed off from the ship and made her way back to the harbour. 

As soon as Lara got back onto the harbour, she contacted Jane immediately and told her what she had done. Jane listened closely, and had informed Lara that she was presently at Teterboro airport, which was only a 15 minute walk from the harbour, to which Lara was currently in. With the continuous communication link, Jane directed Lara to the location from where she was.

A few minutes later, Lara had arrived at the hanger Jane was based in. She was surprised of how prepared Jane was. She had a huge map of the area covering a huge radius, marked with the possible islands the ship was heading towards. Also, there was a small aircraft parked partly inside the hanger, no doubt all ready to set off at any given time. Jane emerged from the hanger, and ran towards Lara, both embracing each other with a hug.

"Lara! I hope you are alright?" Jane asked her good friend.

"I'm okay thanks Jane, are you okay? How's the museum holding up after the heist?" replied Lara.

"Yeah I'm fine, the police are still investigating at the museum, they have no idea what we are planning" answered Jane.

"Good. Even though they will do their best, the police might further complicate things. I see you've come all prepared!" Lara pointed out.

"Of course, come on into the hanger. I've got everything sorted, we just need the co-ordinates from the tracking device you've put onto the ship" responded Jane.

They both entered the hanger, and with the map Jane provided along with the GPS part of the tracking gear from Lara, they found out where the ship was headed.

"Excellent Lara, I can't believe the bug you've placed on the ship worked! We now know where their base is located!" Jane said, pleased with the results. The co-ordinates pointed out a small remote island.

"It seems we have traced them to a group of small islands in the Caribbean, here is the main island as to where the ship has stopped nearby..." continued Jane. Lara scanned the map, looking closely at the island Jane pointed out with her index finger. It indeed was a small, but oddly shaped island.

"I've heard a rumour of this particular island before. It was once dedicated to being a prison, and for sure it would have many old caves and ancient traps. Use this aircraft to get there, and please Lara, be very careful!" explained Jane.

"Don't worry Jane, I will put a stop to this" a confident Lara stated. They both waved their goodbyes to each other once again, and Lara got into the aircraft. She was already familiar with flying, and had no trouble getting the plane started ready for takeoff. Lara piloted the plane to one side of the runway of the airport, began to gain speed across it, and near the end of the runaway, the plane started to lift off into the air. Using the copy of the map guide given to her by Jane, Lara began to travel in the direction of the cult base.

On course, Lara was fast approaching the island. She was now planning on how she would land the aircraft secretly, without anybody spotting her. However, what Lara didn't know was that the enemy was already tracking her plane, and that the island was armed with self defence weapons! 

INTRUDER ALERT! The alarm was quickly raised as Lara got even closer, and with one of the islands' most dangerous weapon, a rocket missile was aimed directly at the plane!

Luckily, at the corner of her eye, Lara spotted the missile, which was coming at the plane with a high rate of speed. "What the ...?" shouted Lara. She needed to act fast to avoid being blown to smithereens. There was an emergency parachute next to the pilot seat, so swiftly, Lara grabbed and placed the parachute bag behind her back. Lara had only a couple of spare seconds left, she reached out for plane exit, and without looking back, jumped out.

BOOM! A large explosion happened behind Lara. The missile did hit the plane bang on, not missing at all. But Lara was now rapidly leaving the remains of the plane far behind, she was falling through the sky, at a high velocity and feeling the strong air resistance. She waited, until it was safe to deploy the parachute, in order to perform a safe landing.

Moments passed, and Lara was satisfied with now deploying her parachute. She pulled the string, and then felt her body momentum slow down instantly in the air. Lara directed the parachute, and within minutes, landed safely onto the beach of the island. 'Phew! So much for the element of surprise' Lara joked to herself. She brushed off the parachute and walked onwards, away from the sandy coast. It began to become grassy, as Lara pressed onwards away from the beach and advancing towards a dark forest. A covered passageway had led Lara even further into darkness. Up ahead Lara saw her destination, which was large ruins among the hillside. She continued up the pathway, determined to finish this once and for all.


	7. Jungle

**- Jungle**

As Lara delved ever deeper into the jungle, it became more shadowy and gloomy. It was actually a similar effect to how darkness falls, creeping up more and more like how it gets later in the night time. The jungle Lara found herself in was rich in vegetation. A lot of different types of tree all grouped together and many species of plants growing along with blooming flowers in a range of colours, from what she could see. Lara also had to watch her step, since a lot of wildlife too lived in this space. She didn't want a snake, like the bushmaster to poison her by biting her leg, or be danger of toxicity from a poison dart frog. Being wary, Lara was still able to make out a passageway, which for her sake would lead to where the Bokor was at currently, or else she may become lost.

What was left of pathway Lara was taking, it led her to a wide open area, where the shrubbery had now bordered off in a circular shape. It reminded Lara of an arena, only in this case, this space was filled with old broken off ruins. Some of it was still intact, while others were crumbling due to wear and tear from the temperature and rainfall. Just as Lara was about to take her next few steps forward, she stopped in her tracks as voices came from not too far away. Quickly, she hid behind a large ruin block, keeping as low and tight as she possibly could. Lara peeked above the block, seeing what or who was upcoming.

From the other side of the circular area, six men appeared into sight. Three of them were armed with colt action revolvers, whereas the rest were carrying assault rifles. They began to position themselves around the perimeter, aiming their weapons to where Lara had come from. The leader of the team then had begun his speech, raising his voice to its threshold.

"We know you're here! Come on out with your hands out, and we will personally take you to the Bokor. Give it up, you have no choice!" the man shouted. The contemporaneous sound of the reloading clips from the rifles filled the area, even Lara admitted to herself that she was trapped! 

But she wasn't going to give up that easy, not without a fighting chance. Lara had already counted that there were six of them present, and knew where each one was located. She drew out her pistols, gearing up ready to fire the two men closest to her position.

"You have three seconds to comply. Otherwise we will be forced to open fire on you. Don't think you can sacrifice yourself, as the Bokor will find another way of using you in death!" the squad leader yelled.

"One...Two..." his last number was cut short. As unexpectedly the target sprung out of her hiding place, and with some impressive accuracy, shot two of his men straight in their foreheads using her wielded dual pistols.

"FIRE!" he commanded his remaining three soldiers, all of them instantaneously obeyed, and a spray mixture of rifle and revolver bullets went heading towards Lara. In response, Lara ducked behind the stone block, making practical use of its thickness as a shield against the bullets. She waited until it was safe to move forward, since there were more ancient building parts scattered around.

The moment had arrived. The men ceased fire to reload, and Lara snappily dived forward, performing a forward roll to one of the larger collapsed stone blocks in front. She thereafter reacted quickly, and using one of her pistols, aimed at the nearest enemy solider. BANG! She shot him square on in the throat. Unable to breathe, the guard fell onto the muddy jungle floor.

"Keep firing at her!" ordered the leader. There were now only three of them left to finish off. Two had revolvers, while the squad leader had the last assault rifle. All of them were now out of sync with each other, firing at different times, so Lara had to change tactic. Pacing her mind to think of something quick, an idea finally came into place. Since some vegetation had overgrown up from the floor, Lara thought she may be able to conceal herself underneath it, and move with care, as once she is caught that's it.

It was a bold move, but it was better than doing nothing. She got into a crawl stance, and moved ever so silently and vigilantly, so she couldn't be easily spotted. Lara crawled to the left, heading towards another piece of wreckage, readying her next move. Given that the soldiers had no clue she had changed her location to the left side of the area, Lara right away took them off guard and with each pistol, she fired a bullet straight at the two guards. Both in awe shock had speechless expressions, whilst they laid to death on the forest floor. There was now only one guard left to go for Lara, and this was the main leader.

After watching the last of his troops fall, he withdrew from shooting and changed his strategy. Instead of constantly bombarding the ammunition of his assault rifle in Lara's direction, he copied the same line of attack as her, protecting himself behind a fragment ruin. Foreseeing this change, Lara sprinted at him whilst he took his attention away from her. When he finally was ready to confront Lara, a terrorized look grew on his face, as he realized he was too late to counter.

"Drop your gun!" a strong voice came next to him. But he wasn't prepared to surrender. So in his last act, out of the blue he tried to tackle Lara and would then grab her weapon. But this last minute plan didn't work out for him, as Lara had a much quicker reaction time, and once she saw the threat, she immediately responded by pulling the trigger on him. The squad leader remained motionless on the grassy floor, and Lara withdrew her pistol back into her holster. She moved on from the area, and now a clearer passage was shown to her up ahead, thanks to the squadron slicing down most of the plants. She followed the man-made path, hoping that it would be the quickest route. 

A long suspension bridge was revealed after travelling through the pathway. It was the only way to get pass to the other side, as Lara looked what was beneath the bridge. She could see nothing, but pitch blackness. Lara examined the bridge. It was a poorly constructed one, with scraps of wood making up the walkway. Also the rope holding it altogether was of poor quality, it was actually some sort of a miracle that it was still upstanding. Lara nearly thought twice, before she actually dared going across the bridge. She took her first few vulnerable steps onto the bridge. Just as she was doing that, she heard the sounds of creaking rotting wood struggling to support the added weight.

Lara took her time, and was patient. Not rushing through it, as one misstep could mean a nasty fall into the pit. A wind blew crosswise the bridge. It reacted to the breeze by moving side to side, making it even more difficult for Lara to keep her balance. She held on tightly to the ropes, and in a split second the blowing wind ended, with the bridge now returning to its original positioning. Regaining her steadiness, Lara treaded even further through the bridge. Just as she got to the middle of the overpass, one of the wooden planks snapped as Lara put her right foot onto it!

"Whoa!" Lara exclaimed. She was about to plunge straight into the pit right foot first, but she held herself upright, holding onto the two ropes on both sides very tightly. These ropes saved her life from the long descendant down. Since Lara didn't want to experience anything like that again, she preceded further forward from the incident. At last, Lara successfully made it through the long winding bridge, without any more dangerous events. There was another passage thereafter the bridge, which Lara followed.

This last man-made road had finally leaded her to where she wanted to be. The environment greatly changed, to a much murkier surrounding. Where what was a blooming, full of life and vegetation part of the jungle, had now become a dead, lifeless area. There was nothing growing, and all the plants were either very dehydrated or had already rotted away. Plus, there was furthermore wreckage of previous buildings spread out all around.

But Lara ignored that, as something else came to her attention. At the end of the walkway, a dark opaque cave opening had arisen. Next to it was a carved insignia made out of wood pieces, similar to the one she had seen earlier at the mysterious shine in the harbour. 'That must be the cult insignia!' Lara assumed. Knowing she was at the right place, she drew out her pistols and went inside the sinister looking cave.


	8. Cave Ruins

**- Cave Ruins **

It was too dim to see anything. There was no source of light nearby at all and Lara was initially blinded by the darkness. Without delay, she reached for her backpack, took out a handy flare, and ignited its strip. A brilliant light from the flare shone brightly, showing Lara her new interior surroundings. The walls were made of a rough textured stone, not shaped properly, so most of these large rocks stuck out from the walls. Some of these were quite sharp, and Lara did her best to avoid them.

There also were some gloomy voodoo masks sticking out of the walls too, which to Lara were fascinating to observe. She viewed them more closely up, using the flare to examine each one. Compared to the rest of the cave structure, these built-in masks were magnificently engraved and shaped. But Lara had no time to fully analyse them. She had to stop the Bokor, who was no doubt further up ahead in the cave.

Lara advanced forward through the cave corridor. This was till she reached the end, where some stairs had leaded her to further delve underground. It started to get brighter, when she kept on going. Hence she had no use of the flare anymore. She carried on down the stairs, which seemed to go on forever. During this time, Lara prepared her weaponry for battle with the Bokor. She loaded up the shotgun to its maximum capacity, and held it tightly whist continuing forward. The stairs led Lara to a large cave alcove. She glimpsed through, to see what was ahead.

A massive circular dead-end room was through the alcove, and in the centre was the person whom Lara has been after all this time... THE BOKOR! He was facing the opposite direction, kneeled down in front of a huge statue. It looked like he was worshipping it, and Lara ignored him for the time being, scanning the room. The chamber was supported by a series of pillars, along with two other statues at both sides of the room. They had the faces of the masks Lara had encountered in the entrance, and were holding flame bowls, which lit up the room quite luminously.

There was nothing else standing out from the room, so Lara further examined the statue the Bokor seemed to be praying to. It was that moment she saw the cursed sword. It was placed into the statue offering stone tablet. 'Blast! The Bokor must be performing the final stages of the ritual' Lara now fully understood what he was actually doing. Having now seen enough, Lara aimed her shotgun straight at him, and moved into the room.

"I've been expecting you Ms. Croft" the Bokor spoke out, with his dark croaky voice and his back still turned away from her. Lara was initially surprised, but she still focused the front sight of her shotgun directly at him.

"Ha! You think you can stop me, but I'm afraid my plans to restore my beloved queen will come to fruition. It won't be long now until she takes over your body, leaving your soul to be DESTROYED!" the Bokor told Lara menacingly.

"Well as long as I'm still breathing, I'm certainly not going to let that happen. I will defeat, and put an end to your terror!" Lara vowed. With the end of that statement, using the shotgun, she shot a shell straight in the direction at his body.

Unbelievably however, the shot was unsuccessful, as the Bokor began to levitate into the thin air, and turned to meet Lara face to face. "Now, you shall die!" he roared out. His hair now was shaking left to right, similar to a medusa effect, as he lifted his arms upright, preparing a flame ball to fire at Lara. Once the flame ball was fully charged up, he threw it right at Lara's position. Using her athletic skills, Lara managed to dodge the flame attack unscathed, and reacted quickly by firing the shotgun whilst he was hovering.

Surreally enough, just as the shot was about to hit him, he dematerialized and vanished out of sight. Lara was flummoxed by the Bokor's abilities, and had to hurriedly come up with a plan, otherwise she would fail, and become his victim forever. Suddenly he reappeared behind Lara, and was about to give a good knockout punch, but Lara had already sensed him and at once ducked to avoid his attack. Annoyed by his missed strike, he dematerialized once again, only this time to hover in the air and tried again firing a flame ball at Lara.

During this time, Lara continuously dodged the Bokor's spells and line of attacks, and every time she did, he furthermore got angry at her and himself for missing. Lara's plan was to wait until the Bokor got tired out, since she had a lot of stamina gained from previous adventures and training. When she saw that he started to get worn out, she would then reach for the sword, in which she assumed he will try and stop her. There would be a moment he would be caught off guard, and with that small window of opportunity, Lara would take her chance by shooting him head first with her shotgun.

Soon after thinking of this plan, Lara had now seen that the Bokor was already drained from using too much of his power. So Lara's plan came into reality. She sprinted towards the sword, and reached out for it. She felt the Bokor's presence right behind her, with him screaming "NOOOOOO!"

Without hesitation, Lara dived and turned to face him straight on, pulled the barrel of her shotgun and squeezed the trigger. BANG! This time around, the shot was effective and the Bokor shrieked his final words, "AAAARRRRGGGGHH! FORGIVE ME MY QUEEN!" Having been stopped in his tracks, the Bokor tried his best to reach out for the sword for one last time. But his last breath had given out, and straightaway he fallen onto the floor to his death. The Bokor was no more. Lara stood over his deceased body, looking over at the corpse, 'At last! I am free from the curse' she sighed with relief. She left the body where it was, and moved onto the sword, which was still sealed in place.

'I must make sure this can never happen again', she thought to herself and walked towards the cursed sword. 

_Two days later..._

Lara stepped into the New York Museum of Antiquities entranceway. There she was excitedly welcomed by Jane, whom she hadn't seen in two days.

"Lara! You're back! Good to see you in one peace! Is everything okay?" Jane asked her good friend, they both hugged each other.

"Yes! Everything's fine. The cult is now finished!" Lara told Jane happily.

"But what about the sword, can it still be used to raise Paveaux?" wondered Jane, awaiting Lara's answer.

"Don't worry! I've taken care of it" replied Lara, as she brought out a timber box from her backpack and opened it. Inside, revealed part of the sword fragment (the handle and part of the blade), that Lara broke off, effectively ending the curse. Even though Lara herself didn't find any treasures in her adventure to take back home, she did save the most precious treasure of all...her life.

**The End**

Tomb Raider: Curse of the Sword (Based On 'Tomb Raider: Curse of the Sword' Game Boy Colour Game)

Copyright (C) 2011 Josh14Raider

Tomb Raider and Lara Croft

Copyright (C) Square Enix, Eidos Interactive, Core Design, Activision, and Crystal Dynamics

© Square Enix Ltd. Lara Croft and Tomb Raider are trademarks of Square Enix Ltd. All rights reserved.


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